The Mastercard Foundation in partnership with IDH – The Sustainable Trade Initiative has launched an innovative agricultural programme dubbed ‘Grains for Growth’ to transform Ghana’s grains market.
The programme which will span over the next three-and-a-half years aims to develop inclusive, and economically viable grain-supply chains that will offer employment and entrepreneurship opportunities as well as contribute to better incomes, and improve the livelihoods of farmers, especially amongst women and youth. Country Program Manager at IDH, Robert Asugre, speaking at the launch in Accra highlighted the benefits of the Grains for Growth initiative.
“The Grains for Growth programme will partner with a dozen small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Northern Ghana including high-profile off-takers, and other supply chain actors, to create 103,000 work opportunities across the maize, rice, millet, fonio, and sorghum supply chains with a majority of these targeting young Ghanaian women and men.
The programme will also support the inclusion of 20,000 smallholder farmers through optimized sourcing and service delivery structures, whilst aiming to significantly increase incomes for participating farmers,” he said. Ghana Country Head at the Mastercard Foundation, Rosy Fynn said the initiative will help improve SMEs in the grain value chain while adding to the country’s economic gains.
“The grains value chain holds enormous potential to unlock growth, improve the livelihoods of value chain operators and catalyze work opportunities for young Ghanaian women and men.
By building the capacity of value chain actors, providing ready access to markets through off-taker arrangements, and access to affordable financial services, we are collectively enabling smallholder farmers and SMEs to scale up and lead the transformation of the sector to become a major contributor to Ghana’s economic growth. It will also enable SMEs to improve their operational capacity, meet the quality and procurement standards of multinationals, and also optimize their smallholder farmer sourcing and service delivery structures,” Ms. Fynn noted.
Director for Inclusive Business Development at IDH, Kebba Colley, reiterated that his outfit is pleased to partner in an initiative that will go a long way to improve the grains sector.
“We have witnessed the transformation of local SMEs, and their farmers, into competitive businesses that meet global standards, attract competitive prices for their products, and create sustainable jobs, particularly for women and youth.
IDH is delighted to extend our work to the grains sector. We look forward to learning and improving the grains sector through this partnership with the Mastercard Foundation,” he said.
Netherlands Ambassador to Ghana, Jeoen Verhuel said the grains for growth programme will serve a great opportunity for the Ghanaian agriculture sector to further expand.
‘There is an opportunity in the grains programme, we have to think of challenges and as well as opportunities and that is where the programme comes in. it will make Ghana ready for utilizing such opportunities” he said.
He added that a “huge transformation is needed in order to enable Ghana to benefit from agricultural trade production and investment.
The structure of the agriculture sector needs to be drastically changed in order to enhance productivity and production in Ghana and that is the big challenge”.
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Grain Production in Ghana
Grain production in the northern part of Ghana is largely characterized by informal supply chains, where actors have limited access to affordable financing solutions, mechanized services, and quality agro-inputs.
These constraints negatively affect the quality and volumes of grain production and the ability of SMEs in the value chain, to attract and maintain premium-paying buyers resulting in limited commercial investments.
With increasing local demand for grains in Ghana, a rising import dependency, and local raw-material sourcing interests, there is a significant opportunity for the grains sector to facilitate economic growth and create social impact through job creation and improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers.
Grains grown sustainably
The Grains for Growth programme is part of IDH’s Grown Sustainably in Africa (GSA) program. IDH under this initiative works with multinationals, including Nestlé, Unilever, Dutch State Mines/Africa Improved Foods, and Dangote, throughout Africa to incorporate smallholder farmers and SMEs into their supply chains through close capacity building, business development support, and facilitating market linkages.
The program also aligns with the Mastercard Foundation’s Young Africa Works strategy in Ghana, which focuses on deepening efforts in the agriculture and agriculture adjacent sector, to unlock work opportunities for young Ghanaian women and men. Nestlé Central and West Africa, one of the first off-takers in the program will leverage their technical expertise and establish backward integration systems to help build the capacity of SMEs in the value chain.
Head of Nestle’s Agricultural Services, Olivier March said the programme will not only impact livelihood and improve local sourcing of grains but will leverage on the successful work already done by Nestlé to incorporate regenerative agriculture practices, build our farm ecosystem and reduce our environmental footprint.
Nestlé is committed to sourcing 20% of its produce from regenerative agriculture farms by 2025, 50% by 2030, and 100% beyond 2050. Ghana Country Head at the Mastercard Foundation, Rosy Fynn
Country Program Manager at IDH, Robert Asugre, highlights benefits of the “Grains for Growth” programme
By Mabel Korkor OCANSEY